In Just a Moment
by kln101
Summary: A small collection of unrelated one-shot stories involving Arrow's Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak. Would fit anywhere in Season 2. Chapters 1 & 2 tell the same story-Ch. 1 is Oliver's point of view; Ch. 2 from Felicity's point of view. Chapters 3 & 4 go together in the same way. (Rated T just in case)
1. An Almost Moment- Oliver's POV

**An Almost Moment**- _Oliver's Point of View (see Ch. 2 to read this from Felicity's point of view)_

Her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and her fingers quaked under his. As Oliver crouched beside her on the office floor, latched onto her hand, he watched as Felicity struggled to pull herself together. The danger was gone, but the moment wasn't over. Adrenaline raced through him as the "what ifs" started to run through his head. What if he hadn't made it in time? What if he lost her? It wasn't the first time he'd managed to come through for Felicity with a last moment save, and he was sure it would happen again, but it was the thing he hated more than anything. She didn't deserve a life like this, and events like the one that just passed were occurring more and more often. A man came looking for the Arrow and found Felicity instead. Again.

The moonlight streamed in through the window, and Oliver tried to look away from her as she took a deep breath. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. It was as though if he looked away, she might not be there when he looked back.

"It's okay. You're okay, and it's over." Oliver heard himself reassure her, but he knew it wasn't true. As long as she was around him, it wasn't ever going to be over. But what was he supposed to do, make her leave? At any other time, the thought of telling her she had to leave would have made him smile. One thing he knew was that no one made Felicity Smoak do something she didn't want to do. He also wasn't sure how he would keep going without her, but that was a thought he wasn't willing to finish.

She began to calm down, and as the panic left her eyes, the first thing they did was sweep over him to make sure that he was okay. She always did that, and it left him weaker than any injury could have. People didn't worry about him. No one was supposed to be worried about him. He was supposed to be the strong one, why didn't she get that? Other people just trusted that the Arrow was strong enough to take care of himself, so why did she always have to… care? It'd be so much easier to keep himself separate from her if she would just care a little less.

His hand seemed to move of its own accord up to touch her cheek, and her eyes darted back up to his and locked on. The tension in the room shifted as the mood turned from fear to… something else. Oliver felt the pull towards her like a magnet, stronger and more tempting than anything he'd felt before. The urge to pull her whole body into his and curve around her was almost more than he could stand. He leaned in closer, close enough to feel her breath against his skin.

He jerked his hand back from her face, and he couldn't seem to stand up fast enough. Distance suddenly became imperative.

"Felicity, are you all right?" Good, his tone was perfect. Concerned, but not panicking. He wasn't sure what he was more afraid of at this moment: the fact that he nearly lost her or the fact that he nearly let himself have her. He didn't know which would be worse.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I totally had that under control, you know." He couldn't bring himself to respond to her joke, and he reached down to pull her off the ground. Felicity reached up and took his outstretched hand. As she vaulted up towards him, it wouldn't take anything to bring her the rest of the way into his arms. Oliver tried to shake of the urge and became determined to keep moving. To create some space. Some distance. Slowing down, stopping, was out of the question. There had to be a good reason to leave, to run out of here.

"I didn't get him, Felicity. I have to go after him." He stooped down to pick up his bow. "Call Digg, and tell him to come take you home."

"Fine, I'll call him." When he glanced back at her, the look she gave him was resigned. What was she thinking?

"Felicity—"

"I'm fine, Oliver. Go." He gave her one last look, trying to reassure both of them that everything was fine, and then he took off. As he ran up the stairs to the roof exit, he was ignoring every instinct in his body to stay with her. As far as he was concerned, that meant that he was doing the right thing. People he loved didn't last long, and she was not going to become one of them.

_Continue to Ch. 2 to reread this moment through Felicity's eyes. _


	2. An Almost Moment- Felicity's POV

**An Almost Moment**- _Felicity's Point of View__ (see Ch. 1 to read this from Oliver's point of view)_

It wasn't the first time something like this happened, and Felicity figured that it wouldn't be the last. Oliver had saved her. She knew he would, she hadn't ever really doubted it, but that didn't mean she could stop her heart from racing or her hands from trembling. She couldn't seem to escape the tension of the last hour. The image of the barrel of the man's gun and the feel of it against her skin as he paced around her in the office wouldn't go away. The smoke cleared the room from the explosion that Ollie's arrow had caused, and Felicity scrambled to get a hold of herself.

The first thing that she became aware of was Oliver's hand on hers. Even through his glove the warmth seeped through and calmed her shaking.

"It's okay. You're okay, and it's over." She heard him, but the words didn't mean much. Their lives were dangerous ones, and the only thing really over was the immediate threat. There would be more tomorrow, if not tonight. She knew that. However, if he was sitting here with her, she figured there wasn't a battle in her imminent future. Felicity took the moment to look him over and make sure that he was all right. She knew from experience that Oliver would sit there and bleed out from a wound if he was worried about protecting someone.

She felt his hand make contact her with her cheek, and her eyes flew back up to his. Was it legal for man's eyes to be that pretty? Surely so much gorgeous should be split up among the general population. She could so easily find herself lost in him. Felicity knew that his outside façade was all most people saw, but she knew it was just the outside trappings of someone truly amazing. Even now, he was full of concern for her, when she knew he had stepped away from one of the most important meetings of his life to get to her in time, and he still needed to deal with the situation at hand. Did he have any idea how special he was? How inspiring? When he looked at her like that, like she mattered to him, she wanted to give him the world. He leaned in just a bit more, and it took all she had not to push her whole body up against him and wrap herself around him.

His hand dropped away, and he stood up quickly. Time to get back to the mission. Felicity shook her head and gathered herself together.

"Felicity, are you all right?" Oliver was asking her a question. Was she all right? While she wasn't sure, Oliver didn't have time to deal with her little emotional upheaval.

"I'm fine," she answered, reminding herself to play it cool. "I totally had that under control, you know." His hand was reaching out to her. Steeling herself not to react to his touch, as she found needing to do more and more often lately, she placed her hand in his, and let him pull her to her feet.

"I didn't get him, Felicity. I have to go after him. Call Digg and tell him to come take you home." Here she was, occupied with thoughts about giving him the world, and in reality all she was giving him was concerns that wasted his time. At least she'd managed not to start babbling.

"Fine, I'll call him. Go." She knew that if she looked the least bit off he'd stay and play babysitter, so she made an effort to look like somebody who wasn't using every ounce of her being to keep from throwing herself at him.

"Felicity—"

"I'm fine, Oliver. Go." He gave her one last glance, then disappeared out the door. Felicity sighed and dropped into a chair. She absolutely hated when she became Arrow bait, or even just needed saving. She didn't hate it because it made her afraid- she just didn't want to be a burden on Oliver. He had enough worries without regularly adding her to the list. Knowing that working herself into a pity party wouldn't help him out at all, Felicity knew she needed to get back to her equipment and start tracking down the bad guy. She had told Oliver that she would go home to get him to leave, but she had much more productive plans. That idiot tonight had assumed that she wasn't going to make it through to tomorrow, and he hadn't made any effort to hide his identity. This guy was going down.

She retrieved her cell phone from where it had been tossed across the room, and pressed the call button.

"Hey, I need a ride."


	3. Miscommunication- Oliver's POV

**Miscommunication**- _Oliver's Point of View (see Ch. 4 to view this story from Felicity's point of view)_

His feet made solid contact with the roof below him, and he straightened on full alert. His eyes panned the roof, looking for any enemies in sight. He had chased two men from the building next door, and he wasn't letting them go now. A catch tonight could make the difference in the lives of everyone living on this street. When he didn't see anyone around him, he looked down over the edge of the roof.

It was the middle of the night, so there wasn't a lot of movement in the residential area below. The street had been a haven for drug dealers for several months, and by now any families who didn't have the means to get out had learned that it wasn't safe outside their homes after dark. If that wasn't enough to keep them off the street, the close to freezing temperatures did the trick.

"Talk to me, Felicity," Oliver said into his com system. He could barely remember what it was like when he had gone in blind and alone. He'd gotten used to having Felicity with him all the time, and that in itself bothered him a bit. He was starting to worry about his dependence on her. Needing help wasn't something he liked to think about.

"I'm here," she answered. "This building had security cameras running once upon a time, but they haven't been booted up in ages." She paused for a second. Even as it unnerved him that he felt the desire to hear Felicity in his ear, he couldn't stop the fact that he always felt more secure when she was on the line. "There's nothing to give me a view of the outside at all. Give me a minute; I'm working on the inside." Without waiting to hear further, Oliver headed to the roof entrance for the building. He slipped through the doorway and into the stairwell. It was a tight space, and sounds seemed to echo for miles. Pale fluorescent lighting shown all the way down several flights of stairs. "I got them!" Felicity's voice rang in his ear again. "They've moved onto the second floor."

Oliver didn't hesitate to take off. These men were ending their drug ring tonight. "I got a flash from the cameras in the stairwell, but they've basically shorted out now. I don't know that I'll get anything else." Felicity's tone was disappointed. "I didn't see them leave the floor, but please be careful. These guys don't seem to have to lot to lose."

"They're nothing I can't handle." Oliver had spent a lot of his nights feeling like he had nothing to lose either, although he knew Felicity wouldn't appreciate that remark.

Arriving at the stairwell exit for the second floor, Oliver pushed the door open carefully. There was no light to be seen except what seeped in through the windows from the streetlights. It was an old office building of some sort, and there were a lot of open spaces and clear walls. Despite what seemed to be a clear line of sight in front of him, Oliver couldn't spot any movement. He reached behind him and pulled an arrow from the quiver at his back. No reason not to be ready. He placed an arrow against the bowstring and carefully drew it back. He stepped into the darkness with caution. "Felicity, can you see—"

The crack against his skull came out of nowhere. He slammed down onto the floor, landing hard on his side. He lost his breath and barely kept his grip on the bow. The arrow scattered across the room. It didn't really matter at the moment, since in this close proximity there wasn't a chance to shoot. As the weight of a man came down on top of him, instinct took over. Oliver threw one hand out to block the man's punch, then slammed an elbow directly in to the dark mass above him. It smashed into the jaw of the man trying to hold him down. While it didn't knock him completely off, the guy lost his vantage point. Without his weight holding Oliver, Oliver was able to partially jerk out from underneath him. Using the hand still gripping the bow, Oliver slammed it against the man's head. The impact did the job and knocked the man out cold.

Without missing a beat, Oliver jumped up and scanned the room for another assailant. There had been two men running away. Before he could spot anything, he heard the crash of a breaking window. He raced over, grabbing and nocking his arrow as he moved. He made it to the window fully prepared to let his arrow fly, and then he came to a halt when he saw the scene in front of him.

The man wasn't running. Tonight some poor teenager had decided it would be more fun to sneak out than to stay safe and warm inside, and now he was the hostage caught between a drug dealer and the Arrow. The teen being used as a shield was afraid, and his captor gripping him from behind was confident.

It was a confidence that he shouldn't have had. Hadn't he ever heard of the Arrow? Did he really think Oliver couldn't drop him where he stood without even remotely endangering the kid? Oliver briefly considered taking the man out permanently, fully aware that he was capable, but knew he wouldn't. As he did every night, he made the decision to aim to wound, not kill.

"Let him go!" Oliver called out the window.

"Yeah, like that's going to happen," was the only response. The man started dragging the teen backwards. He was favoring his right side already, probably having injured it during his flying leap out of the second story window. In his mind, the only way he was escaping on foot was with his hostage. As he backed away, he leaned out over the teen's shoulder to get a quick glimpse of the Arrow.

It was the only opening Oliver needed. He took the shot and hit the man squarely in the shoulder. The teen was released and fell to his knees, while his captor collapsed to the ground. Oliver leapt out the window and headed for the pair outside the building.

"Go home." He barked at the boy, who gave him a wide eyed look of awe, and then took off. Oliver spoke into his com, "Call the police and let them know that we've cleared up the little problem on Steele Rd, and the culprits are patiently waiting to be taken into custody at this address." There was no response from the com. "Hello?"

Oliver turned away from the man writhing on the ground in front of him. "Hello, Felicity? Can you hear me?" He realized that the com must have gotten busted when he took that first hit to the head. He reached for his cell, and he sighed when realized he had left it on the desk back at the foundry. Great. Felicity was going to kill him. God only knew what she was thinking back there. With his luck, she'd probably wrangled an army up from somewhere and was headed this way. Time and again they had discussed the rule that she was to stay put in situations like this, but she didn't take it well when they weren't in contact. Neither did he, actually. Especially when he didn't know exactly what her move was going to be after losing touch. The last thing he wanted tonight was Felicity getting hurt in an attempt to be the cavalry.

He looked back down at the man clutching his shoulder on the ground. "Gotta run," he informed him. Oliver took less than two minutes to check the wound to be sure the man wouldn't bleed out, move him inside with his buddy, and secure them both to wait for the police.

…

It took a bit longer than two minutes to make it back to the foundry, even driving his bike at his usual breakneck pace. As he came through the doors he could hear her on the phone. "I don't care if it's the middle of the night; I want to know what's happening there! If you don't have someone who can tell me, then find someone who can! I want to speak to whoever is in charge." The door clicked shut behind him, and Felicity jerked around. The look in her eyes threw him. She seemed near panic, and he felt his adrenaline kick up a notch in response. Oliver's instinct was to do whatever it took to make her safe and calm. He started down the stairs towards her.

She dropped the phone and flew over, crashing into him on the bottom step and throwing her arms around him. He knew his leather must be wickedly cold, but it didn't seem to faze her. He stood still and let her arms warm him up, both inside and out. What started as a quick hug slowly began to morph into something more. Oliver started to feel the urge to put his own arms around her and pull her even closer; an urge he was determined not to give in to.

"Felicity," he said, clearly and concisely, "Did something happen?" He made sure his tone was even. He needed to be sure that everything was okay, but he didn't need her knowing that the welcome home in her arms was the best thing he'd felt in ages.

"Did something happen?" Felicity repeated in an attitude of disbelief. She jerked back from him, and he felt the cold against him where she'd been. Distance was better, he reminded himself. "You disappear off the grid during a mission, and you show back up and ask me if something happened?" Felicity jammed her finger into his chest. "Your com goes down, and where is your phone? Here!" She dashed back to the desk and snatched it up. Based on her tone of voice, he figured he was lucky she didn't hurl it at him. "What am I supposed to be doing, sitting here patiently and quietly, waiting for you to stroll back in? Maybe take up a hobby, like knitting or Sudoku? Actually, I'm really good at Sudoku puzzles, but that's beside the point!" While the panic had left her eyes, the stress and tension were still there. Oliver came further into the room, turning to put away his bow.

"Felicity, the moment I realized I'd lost you—" the phrase came out of his mouth, and as he heard it, the idea of what'd he'd just said hit him harder than any blow he'd felt that night. Losing her was the worst thing he could think of, and it stopped him cold. He closed his eyes for a moment, and he was grateful that he wasn't facing her. Hoping she wouldn't notice the pause, he turned back.

"As soon as I realized that I'd lost contact, I raced straight back here." Oliver gazed straight at her and hoped he was successful in giving her a reassuring look.

Narrowing her eyes, Felicity walked up and stood directly in front of him. She paused, then pulled back and punched him in the shoulder. He barely felt it, but maybe it made her feel better.

Her face cleared, and he knew the dangerous moment had passed. "Did you do any damage in your attempts to track me down?"

"Well, I may have burned a few bridges at the police department." Felicity walked back to the desk. "Or I would have if they knew who I was. They apparently don't like random women calling them up and demanding they drive up and down Steele Road until they find something useful. I mean, what is the point in all these cops if they won't run a simple errand? Is it that hard?" She paused for breath and dropped into her chair. "I would have gone myself—"

"No, you wouldn't have." Oliver interrupted her with a fierce look. "You do not go rushing out there to try and save me. You stay here. We've covered this." The idea of her running around after him caused worries he refused to think about.

"Look, I'm here aren't I? I followed your rule. Even if it is a stupid rule." Clearly she thought she had done him a favor. And she was right. Oliver had some chance of sleeping tonight knowing she wasn't chasing him into danger. "So," she said, moving on. "Do you want to fill me in on what went down?"

Oliver was more than happy to put this moment behind him and move on to a much simpler conversation about his master plan to clear Starling City of its criminal element.

"Yes, but first we should probably call the police back and make sure they find the dealers at that address on Steele Rd."

_Continue to Ch. 4 to reread this moment through Felicity's eyes._


	4. Miscommunication- Felicity's POV

**Miscommunication**- _Felicity's Point of View (see Ch. 3 to view this story from Oliver's point of view)_

Her screen wasn't showing her what she needed to know, and that was completely unacceptable. Despite Felicity's best efforts, she couldn't lock a visual on the drug dealers Oliver was chasing down. This area had been suffering for months, and she was determined to make sure that after tonight the street would be safe for those families to whom it really belonged.

Trying to find a line to exterior security cameras was completely failing. This wasn't a surprise, as most of the cameras outside the old office building had been physically busted out by the drug dealers who had taken over the street. Oliver had chased the dealers out of the residential home next door and towards the abandoned office building. They were hoping that there might be some old tech left behind that could give them the inside track. This should have been a cakewalk for her, but it wasn't going as smoothly as she'd hoped.

"Talk to me, Felicity." Oliver's voice rang through the communication system she had set up, and she desperately wanted to be able to give him answers. Her job was to be his eyes where and when he needed them, and right now the dark screens in front of her weren't helping to keep Oliver safe. True, he generally thought of her back-up as a means to complete a mission, but Felicity had her own agenda, and a big part of it was making sure that Oliver made it back to her in one piece.

"I'm here," she answered. "This building did have security cameras running once upon a time, but they haven't been booted up in ages." Turning off the com, she coached the computers to pick up the pace. "C'mon, c'mon! Something is definitely going to happen while I'm sitting here waiting and you're giving me nada."

Turning back to the com, Felicity filled him in on her current status. "There's nothing to give me a view of the outside at all. Give me a minute; I'm working on the inside." She gazed at the screen, willing the old equipment to get itself together. At last, the old cameras started to flicker on. Immediately, Felicity got to work scanning the different rooms and the stairwell. The stairs caught her attention first. She spotted Oliver entering the top floor, coming through the door and ready to move. She couldn't help but admire how well his costume was fitting. It always surprised her that more of the criminal element didn't get captured while stopping to soak him in. Then, on a screen beneath him, she spotted other movement.

"I've got them! They've moved onto the second floor." Before the words had all left her mouth, she watched Oliver take off. She couldn't see his face behind his hood, but she could see the determination in every step he took. These guys were toast. Zooming in on her view of the second floor, she noticed the cold look of calculation in the eyes of the taller dealer.

As she finished the thought, her screens once again went dark. No flickering from the stairwell or any other room in the building. "I got a flash from the cameras in the stairwell, but they've basically shorted out now." She ran a check on a few of the cameras, but nothing showed any signs of life. "I don't know that I'll be able to get anything else. I didn't see them leave the floor, but please be careful. These guys don't seem to have a lot to lose." It wasn't lost on her that the intense look in the dealer's eyes was one she had noticed a time or two in Oliver's. She didn't like drawing the comparison, but she couldn't help noticing it.

"They're nothing I can't handle," was Oliver's response through the com.

Felicity sat back in her chair. Oliver could handle himself, she knew that, but she also knew that he wasn't invincible. Sometimes when he was so focused on his mission he acted as though nothing else mattered, and it was times like that when Felicity became the most afraid for him. She hated it when he treated his own life with carelessness. He mattered to her, and he ought to matter to himself.

"Felicity, can you see—" was all she heard from him before a crashing sound, followed by static.

"Oliver! Can you hear me?" Even if he was fighting, she should hear it through the system. Her voice grew more frantic. "Oliver! Are you okay?" When there wasn't a response then, she realized that there wasn't going to be. Felicity wasn't stupid, and she knew the only thing that could disable the system was a blow to the head. She could feel her heart begin to race. "Calm down, you know he can take care of himself. It's okay." Diggle was on the other side of the planet at the moment, so couldn't just call him for help. They shouldn't have been taking on any projects at all while he was gone, but this had seemed like a pretty simple task. Take out a few minor bad guys and save a few families. There hadn't been any real signs of danger.

"I'll give him a few minutes to put down any idiots who decided to fight him, and then I know he'll call me from his cell." Her pep talk did the trick for the moment, but she wasn't one to waste any time. Felicity turned back to her screens and started looking for the nearest traffic cameras. There had to be one nearby that could give her some kind of information.

It only took a moment to prove what she could have already guessed. Any traffic cameras that had ever been installed went the same way as the building security cameras- busted by drug dealers. Oliver's minute to call her was over, and Felicity grabbed her own phone. She pressed the call button, and expected to hear it ringing on his end. What she didn't expect to hear was ringing in the room with her, along with the vibrations it was making on the metal desk nearby. Of course he left his phone here at the foundry tonight. Where else would it be? It couldn't possibly have been on his person, could it?

Felicity was quickly working her way into a panic. What good was she here in an underground fortress of Arrow equipment if Oliver was getting killed out there on the street? The temptation to go charging into the night was nearly overwhelming. She jumped up from her desk and ran over to a chest containing several of Oliver's weapons. She threw open the lid to look them over, and then a bit of common sense came flooding back.

First of all, her MIT schooling had been extensive, but she hadn't opted for courses in weapons training. The only reason she even knew the names of most of the weapons was because she had taken charge of replenishing ammunition and whatever they needed for maintenance. She wouldn't even know how to fire most of these things.

Second of all, she had made a promise to Oliver. If she lost contact with him during a mission, she was supposed to sit tight and wait on him to come to her. It was not exactly her favorite plan; in fact, she hated it a lot. The problem was the way he had looked at her when he asked her to make that promise. Oliver never seemed to really need something from anyone. Occasionally there were things that he wanted, but it always felt like if you weren't ready and able to give him something, he would just go find it somewhere else. Most of the time he generally expected to go out and make things happen on his own.

When Oliver asked Felicity to make him this promise, the look in his eyes was different. The controlled look and clenched jaw disappeared, and she saw something new. Need. For some reason, he needed her to stay where he'd left her. Felicity had hated making a promise that she knew she would regret, but there had been no possible way to deny him when he was standing in front of her with that look in his eyes.

Now, when every fiber of her being wanted to go dashing out to go make sure he was safe, she tried to picture that look on his face. It wasn't easy, but it was enough to slowly make her return to her desk. Unsure of how else to help, she picked up the phone to dial the police. If she wasn't allowed to drive to Steele Rd. and make sure Oliver wasn't in trouble, she would at least find someone who could.

…

Despite sitting on the phone with the police department for over half and hour, Felicity didn't feel like she was making any progress. "I don't care if it's the middle of the night; I want to know what's happening there! If you don't have someone who can tell me, then find someone who can! I want to speak to whoever is in charge." With every minute that passed, she was more convinced Oliver was in serious danger.

Suddenly, she heard a click at the top of the stairwell, and she jerked around to look. There he was. All of him; safe. He started down the stairs, but she couldn't stop herself from jumping up and racing towards him. She crashed into him on the bottom step and flung her arms around him. She knew it was an overreaction. She knew he was fine. Neither fact mattered. Felicity couldn't bring herself to let him go. It was as though if she let go of him he might vanish again.

"Felicity," he said, cutting through her inner mantra of "he's here, he's all right." "Did something happen?"

She repeated his question out loud, sure that she had misunderstood. "Did something happen?" How dare he ask her that? Just a simple, 'did something happen' as though everything was just fine! She jerked back so she could look at his face.

"You disappear off the grid during a mission, and you show back up and ask me if something happened?" Felicity jammed her finger into his chest, unable to stop herself. "Your com goes down, and where is your phone? Here!" She dashed back to the desk and snatched it up. Maybe if she shoved it in his face he would get the picture. The worry that had nearly been drowning her for the past hour morphed into anger. How dare he act as though his disappearance from the world would mean so little! Did he think he didn't matter at all, that she was not going to be worried? "What am I supposed to be doing, sitting here patiently and quietly, waiting for you to stroll back in? Maybe take up a hobby, like knitting or Sudoku? Actually, I'm really good at Sudoku puzzles, but that's beside the point!" Ignoring her rant about knitting and Sudoku, Oliver moved to put away his bow.

"Felicity, the moment I realized I'd lost you—" he paused for a moment with his back to her, probably trying to decide on the best thing to say to calm her down. After a moment he must have figured it out, as he turned back to face her. "As soon as I realized that I'd lost contact, I raced straight back here." He gave her a placating look, and Felicity realized that he just didn't get it, and probably never would. Oliver was the most amazing person she had ever known, a real hero, and the idea of a world without him in it was dark and terrifying. But he didn't see it that way, and she doubted he could understand that anyone else did.

She moved to stand directly in front of him, pulled back her fist, and punched him square in the shoulder. Despite it being her best effort, it barely seemed to faze him. He probably wouldn't even have felt it if he hadn't watched her. Drat him. Knowing there was nothing more to be gained from her anger, Felicity did her best to let it go.

"Did you do any damage in your attempts to track me down?" Oliver asked.

Felicity shrugged and turned to move back to her desk. "Well, I may have burned a few bridges at the police department. Or I would have if they knew who I was. They apparently don't like random women calling them up and demanding they drive up and down Steele Road until they find something useful. I mean, what is the point in all these cops if they won't run a simple errand? Is it that hard?" At the end of this speech, she dropped into her chair. She sent Oliver a look to let him know what she thought of his "stay put" policy. "I would have gone myself—"

"No you wouldn't have." Oliver had his commander face on, the one he wore when he thought that he knew what was best for everyone. "You do not go rushing out there to try and save me. You stay here. We've covered this."

"Look, I'm here aren't I? I followed your rule. Even if it is a stupid rule." The last statement she muttered under her breath, but she was completely aware of the fact that he could still hear her. Felicity knew she wasn't the most useful person in the field, but she hated that sometimes she could feel so helpless.

"So," she said, moving on. She was done circling around problems that she couldn't solve. "Do you want to fill me in on what went down?"

He responded without missing a beat. "Yes, but first we should probably call the police back and make sure they find the dealers at that address on Steele Rd."


End file.
